Walt wrote:
Well, actually you can put a spinaker on them, it's just not class legal
for racing. I've been thinking about hoisting a kite just for fun one of
these days. There are some old 470 kites hanging around the boathouse
that should work acceptably well.


Yes, if the hoist is in the right ballpark that would be
idea. 470 spin'r's are small & flat, idea for power
reaching. You can put the hardware on strops, that will be
easier to remove & lighter for class racing than adding a
bunch of eyelets where you won't want them later.



Yes, optimal speed off the wind is obtained by playing the vang . The
better teams sail with the crew holding the jib sheet in one hand and
the vang in the other.

It affects the rudder quite a bit too, more upwind &
reaching than downwind (unless you start death-rolling, then
you want to vang in hard and keep the boom tip from digging in).


I'm not on one of the better teams, but I do try
to play it somewhat.

Get alongside one of the hotshots, & do what they do. If you
watch the 2nd batten (from the top) you'll be able to see
what they're doing with the vang out of the corner of your
eye. You should be able to feel why it's right in the helm
and in the seat of the pants.

Keelboat sailors refuse to understand this last bit, they
think looking at a knotmeter makes you go fast (shakes head).


..... Although, mostly my strategy in the planing
reaches is along the lines of "hang on tight and try to remember to
breathe."



Yelling "YEEE-HAA-AAA-AAWWW!!" helps with the breathing.


The 16-vang is de-rigeure these days, and you have to be able to adjust
it without moving in from the rail.


That's a lot of purchase! I had a 12:1 on the Lightning at
the aft controls, 6:1 at the forward (it was 4-ended so the
fwd crew could blow it in a spinnaker broach). If it runs
really smooth.... modern technology is wonderful... then it
gives a very fine range of adjustment.

The problem is that you end up with a loose tail underfoot
which then gets sucked into the Elvstrom bailer.

The really top crews are the guys who, when approaching the
leeward mark, can gybe cleanly & get into the right lane &
get the board down & close up the bailers & pull the outhaul
to "on" & roll the boat into a turn & miss the other boat by
inches & remember main first & and decide whether to tack or
cover as they exit... all smooth & quiet. Whoever said
sailboat racing was boring simply had no clue what all was
going on!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King